


Wildfire

by paperxcrowns



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Drug Withdrawal, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Roy Harper Needs a Hug, Vomiting, catherine todd is mentioned a few times, not enough to tag sorry, there isn't much hurt in this it's mostly angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:01:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperxcrowns/pseuds/paperxcrowns
Summary: Jason wasn't losing another person to addiction.
Relationships: Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2195988
Comments: 3
Kudos: 105





	Wildfire

**Author's Note:**

> written for the Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt: addiction/withdrawal

The next time someone asked Jason to help them get clean, the answer would be a fucking no. 

Roy hadn’t explicitly asked him, so Jason couldn’t really complain.

He still was going to complain, this wasn’t going to stop him. 

“Roy?” he asked again when he still didn’t hear a sound from the bathroom Roy had locked himself in roughly five hours ago.

A groan was Jason’s only reply. 

The corner of Jason’s lip pulled up in a faint smirk. It’s barely been a day and Roy had already barricaded himself in the bathroom, begging Jason to put an end to his misery through the door.

“You got this, babe,” Jason called.

Two days ago, Roy had told Jason he’d be getting clean once and for all. Jason had searched the whole apartment for drugs and syringes and had tossed them all out. He’d also completely emptied the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and just to be safe had searched for loose floorboards or anywhere Roy might have stashed anything. 

Jason believed Roy when he said he wanted to go clean. He believed him like he’d believed his mom at first, except this time, he knew just how hard getting clean was, with the cravings, the vomiting, and the withdrawal. This time, Jason was ready, and he wasn’t letting Roy get out of his promise to get clean. 

Roy would thank him later.

“How long has it been?” Roy asked, voice muffled through the door.

“Forty-nine hours,” Jason replied from the couch. “If you ever consider leaving the bathroom I can make us something for dinner.”

Roy groaned. “Please don’t mention food.”

Jason winced. “I can get you Gatorade instead.”

At least Roy wasn’t throwing up anymore, Jason amended as he got up from the couch. It was better for Roy. throwing up was never fun and he’d done it almost nonstop all night, with Jason holding his damp hair out of his face and rubbing circles on his back.

For Jason, the silence was more than unnerving. It sent his skin crawling when he couldn’t hear any sounds coming from the bathroom. It was where he’d found his mom that night, laying on the tiled floor and staring emptily at the stained ceiling. Maybe he was just a little bit worried he’d find Roy in a similar state. Even if Roy was going clean and wasn’t going to overdose.

Roy kept the Gatorade in the pantry. He only had red and white-- his and Jason’s favorite flavors. Lately, he’s been buying Dick’s favorite flavor because he’d sometimes crash at their place after patrol instead of the Manor until he got his own place. 

Jason let him, knowing just how much Dick didn’t like spending time at the Manor unless it was to spend time with Damian, and Blüdhaven blowing up had taken a toll on him, so Jason didn’t complain. He’d however sent Dick to the Nest all week because of Roy’s withdrawal.

He shut the door behind him and made his way back to the bathroom, slamming the door with the red Gatorade.

“Your drink’s here,” Jason said. 

“Door’s open,” Roy muttered.

He sounded _exhausted._ The next few weeks were going to be even more exhausting, but Jason knew from personal experience that the first few days were much worse. It took a body some getting used to functioning without drugs in its system.

Jason was already prepared for the dozens of ‘fuck you’s’ he’d get from Roy.

He wrinkled his nose when he stepped in the bathroom. The place was going to need a lot of deep cleaning to get the smell of vomit and sweat. It smelled like the high school locker room at Gotham Academy.

Roy was curled up in the bathtub, slumped against the wall in exhaustion, his breathing ragged. His hair was sticking to his forehead and the back of his neck, deep bags under his eyes and his shirt was damp with sweat. He looked terrible.

Jason twisted the cap of the bottle open before pressing it in Roy’s shaking hands.

“You need to drink something,” Jason said. “You shouldn’t be dehydrated when your body’s already this weak.”

Roy gave the barest hints of a smile before pressing the bottle of Gatorade to his cracked lips.

“Pretty sure we have saltines somewhere around,” Jason said, sliding down the wall until he was sitting down, arms resting on his knees. “I always keep some around.”

Roy grunted. “Not hungry.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “I didn’t ask if you were hungry.”

Roy groaned, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes. “You’re demanding,” he groaned out.

Jason laughed. “You already know that.”

Roy snorted, setting the Gatorade on the rim of the porcelain bathtub.

“Are you sure I can’t take some Advil?” he asked quietly, pressing his temple against the smooth porcelain tile on the wall behind the bathtub.

No. Absolutely not. People got addicted to painkillers. Catherine’s first addiction had been painkillers. She’d turned to heroin when that stopped providing a good enough escape from real life.

“Nope,” Jason said instead. “Complete detox, remember? No drugs.”

Roy bumped his head against the tile. “Damn, this sucks.”

Jason raised an eyebrow at Roy. “Giving up so soon? It’s only been two days.”

Roy punched Jason in the arm weakly. “Babe… I love you, but please shut the fuck up.”

His words were starting to slur together a bit. Jason pushed himself off the floor, using the rim of the bathtub as support. He tugged at Roy’s damp shirt.

“Come on, we’re getting you to bed.”

Roy was fully sagging against the wall now, eyes half-closed. “No,” he mumbled. “Gotta-- gotta shower-- cold water’s nice.”

Roy didn’t look like he had the energy to get up anymore, let alone shower. 

“Give it a few days,” Jason said. “Wait until you can actually _stand_ before considering a shower.”

Roy moaned. “But I feel gross, Jay.”

Jason laughed, bending down to hook his arm under Roy’s armpit and lift him up. “You’ll live.”

Roy’s skin was flushed and hot against Jason’s. He understood a little better why Roy had chosen to sit in the bathtub now.

* * *

It was on day four that Roy started having cravings. 

Jason came back from a grocery run to find Roy searching frantically through the apartment, rooting through cabinets, tossing miscellaneous objects on the ground and moving furniture to peel back the floorboards.

Jason set the grocery bags down on the ground, mentally reminding himself to pick them back up. He’d bought peanut butter ice cream and he didn’t want it to melt.

“What are you doing?” he asked, standing over Roy as he searched under couch cushions frantically. 

“Where are they?” he muttered, running a frantic hand through his hair, messing it up even more.

Jason crossed his arms over his chest. “Where’s what?” he asked, already knowing the answer. 

Roy growled, throwing a cushion at Jason.

“The drugs. Come on, just one hit. And then I’ll stop.”

Jason briefly lamented his melting ice cream before crouching in front of Roy and gently grabbing his wrists. He held on firmly as Roy tried to twist them out of his grip. He was strong, but Jason was stronger. 

“Let me _go,_ Jason,” Roy snarled.

“No,” Jason said firmly. “I won’t. You said you’d do this. I’m not letting you give up, Roy. you can’t keep doing this to yourself. It’s always, “I’ll be better next time”, or “next time I won’t give in”. What if there _isn’t_ a next time, Roy? What if you OD? What if there is no next time, Roy? What if next time I find you in your room or the bathroom or the goddamn kitchen dead with a needle in your arm?”

Roy tugged his wrists free from Jason’s grasp and Jason let him. He wasn’t expecting Roy to say anything. He hadn’t said that to get a reply from Roy, he’d said it to make him think of what giving up could mean. Because there were consequences, and Jason knew them too well. 

Roy took Jason’s hands in his without a word. 

Jason dropped his head on Roy’s shoulder in defeat, feeling drained and tired.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Roy dropped Jason’s wrists in favor of wrapping his arms around Jason.

“Me too,” he muttered, mouth pressed against Jason’s shirt. “It always gets so hard and I always let you down--”

“No-- no, stop, Roy--” Jason pulled away to look Roy in the eyes. “You’re not letting me down. You can’t ever let me down. You just keep promising me _and_ yourself that you’ll get better, that you’ll stop, and you always let yourself give up. You’ll always be better than this, okay? And I’ll be there with you the whole time.”

Roy took a shaky breath. “I’m so in love with you,” he said, not meeting Jason’s eyes. “You know that, right?”

Jason smirked. “Yeah. but I love it when you say it.”

Roy huffed a quiet laugh. “I love you, idiot.”

Jason hesitantly reached up to run his hand smoothly through Roy’s tangled hair. “I’ll help you through this, okay? This time, we’ll make it stick.”

Roy hummed noncommittally, closing his eyes. It was fine if he didn’t believe Jason. He still had the next few months to prove it to him.

Jason had been so much more critical of Catherine whenever she promised Jason she would get clean once and for all and a week later Jason would find empty needles in the bathroom. He’d been younger and hadn’t understood just what Catherine had been battling. All he’d known was that when his mom was sober, she smiled and laughed and would ask Jason about his day, sometimes helping him in the kitchen or taking him out for ice cream. All he’d known was that he preferred his mom when she was herself, not so high that she forgot who he was.

Jason wasn’t letting another person he loved succumb to their addiction. Roy was worth more than destroying his self-esteem and falling into a pit of guilt because he thought he kept letting everybody down every time he failed to get clean.

“I promised I’d help you,” Jason said. “And I’m going to help you. And if that means physically restraining you when you have cravings that make you search the whole apartment for drugs, then I’ll fucking do it.”

Roy smiled wetly. “That’s good to know.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “It’s your fault my ice cream’s melted,” he said, pushing himself off the living room floor before pulling Roy to his feet. “I hope you know that you despicable heathen.”

Roy groaned. _“Please_ stop mentioning food, Jay.”

Jason kissed Roy’s temple with a smile. “You need to get back to a healthy eating schedule at some point. Energy bars and dried fruit aren’t a healthy diet.”

Roy frowned. “I think I’ll just go to bed instead.”

“I’ll wake you up for dinner,” Jason said. “Non-negotiable. You’re eating something that isn’t saltines or gummy worms.”

Roy frowned at Jason. “You sound like Oliver.”

Jason stopped in his tracks and stared at his boyfriend. “I’ll mark that down as a reminder to kick your ass later,” he replied. “How dare you, Roy Harper.”

Roy left the room with a laugh. He was going to be the end of Jason.

**Author's Note:**

> you can check out my [bad things happen bingo card](https://blas-ph-emy.tumblr.com/post/644855929256427520/here-is-your-card-for-bad-things-happen-bingo/) on tumblr!


End file.
